The Time of Our Lives
by Robias
Summary: Some fics and ficlets set in the same AU college setting, mostly Lavi-centered. Rating varies. Pairings are Lavi/Kanda and Allen/Lena.
1. Texts

Word count: 1200

Genre: AU

Rating: worksafe-ish

Note: College-AU that never got anywhere. Re-posted, although not re-written. My apologies for the possible errors and the fact that my style of writing may have changed drastically in the time since I've written this.

* * *

He hadn't forgotten (of course he hadn't).It was just that the whole day had turned out to be crazy. He and Bookman had already made certain during the early hours of the evening before that the documents that the old man had hoped to find weren't in the bookshop, but instead, the shelves had been filled with volume after volume of extraordinary detailed diaries from the second world war, that had never even been opened since the date they'd been bought by the old fart in charge of the antique store (who looked old enough that he would be able to join his merchandise on the shelves any moment, by the way… he and Bookman made quite the pair, Lavi thought).

The entire day had gone to studying and translating the old diaries, and the redhead had barely gotten enough time off to run to the nearest Pizza Hut and buy himself an at least half-decent lunch. To pick up his phone and make a call had been impossible.

Days like these happened more and more often the longer he worked and studied under Bookman, he noticed. As the old man started to trust on Lavi's abilities, the workload just grew and grew. If Bookman had taken care of the same amount of work _himself _before picking the redhead as his trainee, Lavi would have to deem the geezer inhuman once and for all.

Not that he didn't love to be allowed to be part of Bookman's work. He really was proud to have been accepted as the man's successor, but sometimes, especially during days like these, he really wished that he could at least a couple of minutes to himself, or in this case, his friends.

But after the light in the antique shop had finally become bad enough so that not even the light from Bookman's laptop was enough to help him read the tiny words of lieutenant Emil Ackers – why the hell didn't the old shop owner get lights installed in the building, anyway? – Lavi's mentor finally leaned back in his chair and lit his pipe, rolling his shoulders to try and massage some of the stiffness out of them.

"Why don't you go to bed," he said. "You youngsters need so much sleep to stay alert, and I certainly won' have patience for someone who makes silly mistakes just because he can't keep track of his bedtimes."

Lavi, who had spent the last half hour yawning and nodding over Carla Swane's diary, stuck his tongue out, before oh so agreeably closing the book and saving the document on his own computer, before crawling into his bedroll, located between a few stacks of books which was dangerously high and unstable (Bookman had given him a wry, slightly evil smile when he complained about the risks of being killed by a book in his head while he slept, simply cutting Lavi's whining off with a "maybe that will be enough to finally knock the knowledge into your thick head permanently".)

He didn't bring his laptop with him to bed as usual tonight. Instead, he reached for his cell phone. If this would get him a scolding for not keeping his personal logs in order, it'd be worth it.

The light from the phone's display was weaker than the light from his laptop, but Lavi bit his lips as he squinted against it, though he didn't really need to be able to see the buttons or the text on the display to know what he was writing.

_Click click click._

"You awake?"

_Send; Yuu-chan cell._

He lay awake for a few minutes, not really wondering if Kanda was awake; he had an assignment due tomorrow, and Lavi was pretty certain that the other teen would be awake during the better part of the night, working until both his fingers and eyes bleed to finish it.

However busy Kanda was, though, the reply only took a couple of minutes.

"What do you want? I'm busy."

He grins. So Kanda _does _miss him a bit, after all.

"Naa, Yuu. There's only a few minutes left now. How's it feel to be an old man?"

_Send._

The answer took a little longer this time. Lavi lay awake, listening to the sound of the store's old clock ticking. He doesn't have to turn his head and look to know it says forty seconds and five minutes to twelve. Thirty nine. Thirty eight.

The sixth of June is soon over.

At three minutes and two seconds to midnight, the phone buzzes again.

"I'm not an old man."

Lavi can barely contain a snort at his fingers quickly moves to type a reply._ Click click._

"Happy birthday, Yuu."

_Send._

The clock chided twelve times, and Lavi lays still and listens. At the other side of the store, Bookman glances up from his laptop and his own personal logs, and shrugs before going back to typing quickly with stiff, dry fingers.

Just when Lavi thinks that Kanda has decided that it's not worth to type a reply to suck a useless thing as a birthday congratulation, another buzz is heard.

"It's just an ordinary day. And don't call me that!"

This time, the snickering is definitely loud enough for Bookman to hear, but Lavi doesn't care. He puts away the phone and prepares to go to sleep, figuring that he'd better leave Kanda to his schoolwork, unless he wants to come back and find himself locked out of the dorm once he and the old man returns from this research trip. Hopefully, if he works fast enough and concentrates hard on not making any translation mistakes, he'll get some time to call Kanda tomorrow.

But just as he's started to drift off, the phone vibrates once more. Blinking, surprised, Lavi reaches for it. Kanda has never sent him a text without Lavi having to prompt him into it before.

The message is short, much to short for it to have taken so many minutes for Kanda to write, but as Lavi reads the two words on the display, he understands that it must have taken some internal struggle before Kanda managed to get himself to type them out.

"Thank you."

Now, to have_ both_ of them act out of character during the same texting session would just have been too much, so of course Lavi has to reply to Kanda's sentimentality with teasing.

"Awwh, Yuu's getting sentimental in his old days…!"

However, the moment he's pressed "Send", he regrets his choice a little bit, and decides that a sincere thank you deserves an honest attempt at being sincere back.

"But I'm sorry I couldn't be there today. We'll invite Allen and Lenalee over when I get back and have some cake together, 'kay?"

The reply is immediate, so fast that it almost startles him.

"Idiot, I don't eat sweets. And I do not want to celebrate with moyashi. And I am NOT old."

_Click click click._ Wide grin in the dark.

"Then how 'bout some phonesex to make up for the lack of birthday party?"

_Send._

This is the fastest – and shortest – reply so far.

"No."

_Click click click._

"What are you wearing?"

_Send._

_Bzzz. Bzzz._

"Shut the hell up."


	2. Doubts

Word count: 1650

Genre: AU

Rating: worksafe

Note: College-AU that never got anywhere. Re-posted, although not re-written. My apologies for the possible errors and the fact that my style of writing may have changed drastically in the time since I've written this.

* * *

"I don't like it."

Lavi raised his head from his notes, and had to blink as his vision blurred for a moment. He'd sat bent over the tiny scribbled text, fighting to translate it, for over two hours, and now his eyes clearly found it to be time to protest. He should probably take a break, get something to eat, or maybe nap for an hour or so… but Bookman had said that he needed this diary translated by Tuesday, and now, by Sunday afternoon, Lavi was barely halfway finished with it.

Maybe it was time for a tiny break, though, and so he welcomed Allen's interruption readily. That was, until he glanced over to the opposite side of the table and saw the uncharacteristically dark expression on his friend's face.

"Huh?"

Allen met his gaze for only a moment, his own eyes growing hesitant, before turned his head to the side and away from the redhead.

After another moment of silence, Lenalee nudged Allen's arm. "What were you going to say, Allen?" she asked, leaning forward over the table to get a better view of her boyfriend's profile, as he also turned away from her.

"I don't…" Allen continued, slowly. "I don't like it."

Lavi waited for him to continue and explain himself. But apparently, starting this conversation was really hard on the fair-haired boy, as he only continued to stare off to the side, expression uncertain.

"Don't like what?" Lavi asked, slightly confused. The statement was without doubt directed at him, but somehow, he must have missed a vital point in the conversation somewhere, because it made no sense to him at all.

Lenalee raised an eyebrow at him, at the same time as Allen gave him a quizzical glance, and he realized that he'd uttered the question in Portuguese. He cleared his throat.

"Don't like what?" he repeated, this time in English.

Another moment of silence passed, before Lenalee tapped Allen's shoulder with her index finger. "That!" Allen finally said, motioning towards Lavi's side of the table. Lavi looked down, but saw nothing else but his notes, translation books and the tiny diary he was currently working on. If he looked beyond his small mountain, he could also see Allen's and Lenalee's English books, and a little further down to his right, Kanda's math books.

Still confused, he looked back at Allen, hoping to get an explanation soon. Taking a pause was all good and dandy, but if he continued to drag this out the way he did, Lavi would lose precious time.

"I don't like that, and what it's doing to you," his friend finally offered.

And so it clicked. A smile spread over Lavi's face. "Aaaw, Allen's worried 'bout me" he cooed. "Don't worry, Sprout, it's nothing I can't handle. I've already made it through the freshman year's exams with six majors, this ain't nothin' compared to that, hone—"

"It's not what I meant," Allen interrupted.

"Eh?"

"I mean… him. Professor Bookman. And everything he's making you do for him. I don't like what it's doing to you."

Lavi raised his hand to scratch at his neck. Somewhere in his back, a joint popped, and he made a face.

"I'm not sure I'm following," he admitted. "What do you mean 'what it's doing to me'?"

Allen still seemed cautious, and he looked to his left, exchanging a quick glance with Lenalee. Lavi figured what he saw in her eyes must have reassured him, because he straightened his back as he turned back to look directly at the redhead.

"Lavi, I know that you love what the two of you do, and I know that you find it interesting and important and that there are probably very few beside you and Bookman who has enough linguistic talent to be suited for the job, but… I'm wondering if it really is that good a career for you."

Lavi gaped. He'd known for some time that he was making at least Lenalee worry – Kanda had told him she'd sought him out a couple of times to ask about Lavi's sleeping and eating habits. He didn't spend as much time with them as before, and when he did, he was often tired due to lack of sleep or jetlag, but he'd never thought it was that big of a deal, as he always managed to act carefree and happy around his friends anyway.

And his lacking energy also didn't have that much to do with his extra work as Bookman's assistant, he thought; they were all tire and weary these days, as they had a lot of studying to finish up before Christmas break… and Lavi was the one of them who took the most classes to begin with.

Because of these things, Lavi was quite confused by Allen's straight forward statement.

"…eeh? Why wouldn't it be good for me?"

Apparently, this was the part that Allen had dreaded the most, because while his back remained straight his left hand wandered over the table, soon to be clasped by both of Lenalee's.

They both looked very serious, and Lavi had a feeling what would come next wouldn't be good news for him.

"You're not acting like yourself," Allen said. "You're always absorbed by your work. I can tell you're not getting enough sleep, even without Kanda telling me about it…"

At that, Kanda snapped his head up from his geometry notes. "Oi," was all he said, glaring at Allen, who promptly ignored him.

"We know you trust professor Bookman…" This time, it was Lenalee who spoke up. "And I'm sure he has done a lot of wonderful things to earn that from you, but…" she trailed off, looking just as uncertain as Allen did.

"We're starting to get a feeling he's not only helping you grow as a scientist and develop your linguistic skills and memory, but that he's helping you to _forget _about your own life and your friends in the process," Allen finished for her.

Lavi sat dumbstruck, staring at the two of them over his small mountain of notes and translation books. What were they on about? What the hell was so different about him now? He was the same person as he'd always been; working with Bookman only cut down the time he was able to spend with his friends a little…!

"I don't get it," he finally said, putting his pencil down and leaning back in his chair. "How am I different? And what d'you mean, I'm forgetting you guys?! I hang out with you all the time! I'm here right now, ain't I?"

"Yes, but it's not the same when we meet up to study," Allen pointed out.

"I just happen to have a little less time to fool around right now; we're just about to complete this huge project which we've been workin' on for the last few mon—"

"Lavi," Lenalee interrupted, not even bothering to raise her voice, as just the rudeness of the gesture was surprising enough for Lavi to halt his explanation and shift his attention to her. "Did you know that me and Allen got engaged last week?"

"Of course I know!" Lavi was shocked that she might even _think the thought _that he could have forgotten such an important event in his best friends' lives. "I already told ya why I couldn't be there for the party, didn't I? The trip to Greece was really important and don't gimme that look, Sprout, you've had the old man as your teacher this semester as well, you gotta know it's practically impossible to come up with an excuse good enough to get him to reconsider once he's made up his mind about something!"

Allen has raised his eyebrow halfway through the explanation. "Even Kanda was there," he said.

Once _again_ taken aback, Lavi turned towards his roommate.

"You were?"

Kanda only grunted, not bothering to raise his head from his book. The lack of real reply spoke volumes to Lavi though; Kanda actually agreed with Allen and Lenalee, for the most part, even if he'd never show openly how concerned he really was about Lavi's behavior.

"C'mon…" Lavi started to say, but Lenalee suddenly stood up, towering over all three boys, a fierce look in her eyes as she looked directly at Lavi.

"You haven't said a single thing about it since you came back, either!" she exclaimed. "It's not like you! Allen is right; you've changed, and not for the better. We're your friends, we care about you too much to just sit still and watch you throw everything that really matters away for a stupid job!"

Lavi could only watch, open-mouthed, as Lenalee gathered up her books and papers – and quite possibly tore a few of them in the process – and fled the library. Allen didn't take long to follow, though the white haired boy were a lot less aggressive in gathering his things. The sorrow in the look he gave Lavi before he followed his fiancée out was the same, though.

"Think about it, Lavi," he said.

When they'd left, Lavi spent at least one minute in shock, fighting to gather his composure and thoughts and try to make sense of what had just happened. Were they really that concerned with how he'd been so absentminded lately? _Why?_

When he failed to think of an answer by himself, he turned towards Kanda.

"Yuu… are you guys serious?" he asked, trusting his best friend to be able to tell him straight to his face what was so wrong with "how he was acting".

But Kanda only looked at him briefly, before starting to gather his books and tuck them into his backpack. "I'm not the one of us who spends enough time butting into other people's business to be able to tell a difference," he said, standing up, and heading towards the door.

…_shit._


	3. Keep Talking

Word count: 1000

Genre: AU

Rating: not worksafe

Note: College-AU that never got anywhere. Re-posted, although not re-written. My apologies for the possible errors and the fact that my style of writing may have changed drastically in the time since I've written this.

* * *

Pant. Pant. Swallow. Groan.

"Y-yuu… ah!"

Shuddering breaths and writhing. Sheets getting soaked with sweat and twisting around limbs sprawling on the slightly too narrow bed. Pant. Whimper.

"Gods, shit, _Yuu!_"

A sudden buzzing, quickly followed by a slightly scratchy recording of "Tubthumping" interrupted Lavi's babbling, causing the two boys on the bed to freeze up.

_We'll be singing  
When we're winning  
We'll be singing_

Kanda looked up from his position between Lavi's legs, his dark eyes narrow and his expression sour as he glared at the phone, but he only paused for a single moment before continued his ministrations, causing Lavi to moan helplessly.

_I get knocked down  
But I get up again_  
_You're never gonna keep me down!_

"Nnh…" Arching his back, he tried to tone out the song and the blinking lights from the cell by his bedside. But Kanda would have none of that. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he raised his head and cocked it towards the cell, long locks of hair sliding over Lavi's abandoned erection, causing the redhead to gasp.

_Pissing the night away  
Pissing the night away_

"Are you planning on answering that, or not," Kanda said. Lavi shook his head, swallowing to try and clear his throat before answering.

"It's just the old man anyway," he answered. No one else but Bookman would call him at this time of the night.

Kanda raised an eyebrow. "What if it is important?"

"This is more important!"

A feral grin spread over the dark-haired man's features within seconds, and Lavi's cock jumped from the mere sight of it. He'd seen various versions of that smug expression on his friend's face over the last few years, inside of the kendo ring, or when he'd gained the upper hand in one of his and Allen's arguments, but Lavi was fairly certain that he was one of very few who had seen this particular face.

Had their situation been any other, he would probably have feared for his life.

_He drinks a whisky drink  
He drinks a vodka drink_

"Pick up the phone," Kanda ordered.

"Wha—"

"Answer it," he said again, voice low. He reached down to grab of Lavi's cock, squeezing it almost painfully hard. "Or I won't let you get off."

"_Yuu…!_"

"Pick up. The phone." The growl was accompanied by an even tighter hold, and Lavi whimpered and scrambled to grab hold of the goddamned cell phone.

_He drinks a lager drink  
He drinks a--_

He barely had the time to check the display to confirm what they both already knew; the one calling was Bookman.

Just as Lavi answered, Kanda nodded briefly, apparently pleased that Lavi had obeyed him so readily, and lowered his head to once again engulf the weeping erection before him, almost causing Lavi to embarrass himself before his mentor by moaning straight into the microphone as a "greeting".

As it was, he had to take a moment to compose himself before he even managed to get out a rough "_what?!_" out.

"Have you unpacked?"

"H-huh?"

Kanda let go of Lavi's cock entirely, to reach up and brush a few rebellious strands of hair behind his ear.

"You'd better not have," Bookman continued, "because you won't have time to pack a new bag. We're going to Sweden in half an hour."

Lavi could barely process what he was hearing through the intense thrills that ran down his spine as Kanda curled his tongue around the head of his cock in an absolutely _dangerous_ way.

But then it caught up with him.

"…Sweden? _Now?!_"

"Did I stutter?" Bookman's voice was dry, and unamused.

"But…"

"This is a very important event, Lavi," the old man interrupted. "A murderer of seven might go free after only fifteen years in prison, and the final trial is in four days. We only have that much time to interview the prosecutors and lawyers, and I will not allow either of us to miss out on research time because _you_ have problems with getting out of bed before ten am."

When Kanda reached down with his hand again, this time to fondle and massage further down between Lavi's legs, his fingers cool and slick, the redhead didn't manage to stifle his deep groan in time, and he threw his head back against the pillow, cursing the world's all old pandas and their _horrible_ timing.

"Mnnghh…!"

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the line. When Bookman finally spoke again, his tone was anything _but _unamused.

"…I see. Well then. Two hours."

Somehow, Lavi managed to gather his wits enough to get out a small, breathless chuckle, even as Kanda pushed his fingers in deep, dark eyes watching Lavi's face through his bangs. Apparently, he was having almost as much fun with this as Lavi's mentor was.

"Wh-what, not a single snide comment about teenage hormones? You're losin' your touch, panda."

"Who said I'm not simply saving it for the flight? It could prove to be rather good entertainment, and we have many hours together on that plane with nothing to do to look forward to."

The next groan was one of equal amounts of suffering and pleasure, as Kanda scraped his fingertip over that certain spot inside of Lavi.

"Don't take too long," Bookman finished. Kanda lifted his head, slowly releasing Lavi and licking his lips as he withdrew his hand.

"You heard the geezer," he said, answering the unspoken question about whether or not he'd been able to overhear the conversation quite effectively. "On your knees."

Lavi hurried to press the "disconnect call" button.


End file.
